Creating page templates via a plugin?

[Ryan]

I've been trying not nut out how to add new page templates to WordPress via a plugin (instead of hard coding template files).

Any idea if this is possible? I've been looking into get_page_templates() but I can't figure out a way to filter it.

It's simple enough to check for the existence of a page template via is is_page_template() but creating one seems more complex.



Wondering why I need to know? ... I want to do this, so that I can give the end-user the ability to change the label of the page template via the admin panel. At the moment this is controlled via the file itself, so if I can create the templates via a plugin (actually via functions.php - but it's easier to explain this way), then it should be possible to bypass the file and create it dynamically.

[Otto]

Well, you could manually screw around with the $wp_themes global. That'd do it.

Or you could just filter page_template, if you have some way of detecting when they need the page.

[mfields]

@Ryan, I've thought about doing this in the past but I have always talked myself out of it. I could never quite figure out how to determine the html structure that the theme is dependent on + the names of the id's and classes that it has defined.

[Otto]

Yeah, plugins acting as themes is tricky and weird, at best. It's hard to do and I don't see any way to do it correctly.

You can get the 80% case, but that remaining 20% is going to be a PITA.

[Ryan]

Thanks for the input.

@Otto - your suggestion looks like it would work, but it also looks like something that could break if they change the way that function works in the future. I'm a big fan of making stuff forwards compatible and jumping through hoops to do something like that isn't what I have in mind ... particularly if it means I need to periodically fix it.

@mfields - for the particular theme I'm working on that isn't a problem as the themes HTML is stored in the database anyway.

I guess I'll just stick with making the files and using generic names instead. It will work, it's just not as elegant as what I had in mind.

I usually think of plugins and themes as being one in the same, just with a different name, but this is definitely an example of something which is not really doable in a convenient fashion via a plugin.

[mfields]

for the particular theme I'm working on that isn't a problem as the themes HTML is stored in the database anyway.

Interesting. Is it a publicly available theme? If so, I would love to take a look at it and see how it works.

I usually think of plugins and themes as being one in the same, just with a different name...

IMO Themes are much more powerful than plugins for situations such as this. I'm currently learning the hard way how to create a plugin that creates dynamic template files. I've found a solution, but it's not pretty :)

[Ryan]

Interesting. Is it a publicly available theme? If so, I would love to take a look at it and see how it works.

No. But I'll PM you a link so you can see how it works.

[andreasnrb]

Ryan have you checked Elastic? It sort of replaces the built in theme engine with its own if I remember correctly.